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Young Communist League | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Newspaper | Challenge |
| Website | |
| https://ycl.org.uk/ | |
 Twitter | @https://twitter.com/yclbritain |
The Young Communist League (YCL) is a communist youth organization in the United Kingdom. It is the youth wing of the Communist Party of Britain (CPB), although is organisationally independent from that party. It is committed to the CPB's program, Britain's Road to Socialism.
History
The Young Communist League was originally associated with the Communist Party of Great Britain and was dissolved in 1989, two years before the party itself. It was later re-established as the youth wing of the Communist Party of Britain. It has grown from only 100 members in 2016 to over 500 in 2021.[1]
Practical activity
The YCL involves itself in marches and demonstrations,[2] selling literature on stalls, and organising food collections.[3] It also defaces private property like that of energy companies and political party headquarters,[4] and other such publicity stunts.[5][6]
The YCL has crafted a distinct public appearance based on use of black clothing and red bandanas,[7] and the deployment of flares. This anarchist-style apparel, in particular the masking of one's identity, has been criticised by some communists such as Breht O'Shea, asserting that it creates an impression of violence, frightens ordinary workers, and creates an easy target for fascists (specifically, the allure of revealing the identity of the adversary).[8]
Some have accused the YCL of LARPing, which is characterized by an obsession with a political ideology based on its use as an accessory to one's identity, rather than a grounded commitment to and study of the theory of an ideology based on its merits.
References
- ↑ Nathan Czapnik (2022-02-11). "The eclipse and re-emergence of the Young Communist League" Challenge. Archived from the original on 2022-02-11. Retrieved 2022-05-08.
- ↑ https://twitter.com/yclbritain/status/1576630757560569856
- ↑ https://twitter.com/yclyorkshire/status/1574099004245397507
- ↑ Hamish Morrison. "Scottish Conservative Edinburgh HQ targeted by Make the Rich Pay campaigners" The National.
- ↑ https://twitter.com/yclbritain/status/1571923787968307206
- ↑ https://twitter.com/ChallengeYCL/status/1584584372627574784
- ↑ “As is now de rigueur for the comrades, they dressed in black with red bandanas and carried red flags.”
"A name that spells trouble" (2022-06-23). Weekly Worker. - ↑ The Deprogram (2022-03-02). "The Deprogram Episode 15 - The Role of Alternative Media (Ft. RevLeft)". YouTube.